RMRS Online Publication - Journal
Articles, External Publications, and Special ReportsBeginnings of range management: Albert
F. Potter, first Chief of Grazing, U.S. Forest Service, and a
photographic comparison of his 1902 Forest Reserve Survey in Utah
with conditions 100 years later

The period from 1880 to 1900 is regarded as the period of
"spoilation" of western rangelands. In Albert Potters
own words, "Quick profits and fortunes lead to speculation
and incredible numbers of stock were placed upon the range. Cowman
was arrayed against sheep man, big owners against small, and
might ruled more often than right." The Government took
no action until 1891 when the Creative Act established the Forest
Reserve system under the Interior Department's General Land Office
(GLO). Lacking authority and undermined by political appointees,
the GLO foundered until the reserves were transferred to the
Bureau of Forestry in the Department of Agriculture (1905). This
agency was shortly thereafter renamed the Forest Service.

In 1901, Albert F. Potter was hired as a grazing expert and
in 1902 completed a survey of the potential Forest Reserves in
Utah. During the summer of that year, he traveled over 2,000
miles of which approximately 1,650 were on horse back. He visited
42 towns seeking input on the designation of forest reserves
and refined the boundaries outlined by the GLO. Potter's diary
and report of this survey survive intact today.

Albert Potter also took photographs. From the numeric sequence,
he took around 400 exposures during the summer of 1902. 67 photographs
survive in his report and an additional 59 with some duplication
have been found in Forest and special collection files. Several
of these have been relocated and re-photographed for inclusion
in this document.

By 1906, Potter was Inspector of Grazing with the newly formed
Forest Service, and went on to become Assistant Forester in 1907
and Associate Forester in 1910. He was the agency's first Chief
of Grazing. A close associate of Gifford Pinchot and later Henry
Graves, he was the first westerner to hold a high post in the
U.S. Forest Service. He organized the service's grazing policies,
regulations, and procedures. Seeking cooperation, he assured
that the management of western ranges was shared with stockmen
while still retaining the final decisions as to principles and
details of operation in the hands of local Forest officers.